Orange Shows Appeal

Michigan, 'bama Are Just Happy To Be Playing

January 01, 2000|By Gary Reinmuth, Tribune Staff Writer.

MIAMI — If you want history, Michigan and Alabama are the Washington and Lincoln monuments of college football. Saturday night's Orange Bowl game at Pro Player Stadium will mark the Wolverines' 31st bowl appearance and its 25th in a row. The Crimson Tide has been to more bowls, 50, and has more bowl victories, 28, than any other Division I school.

Great bloodlines, though, are no guarantee of everlasting happiness. Washington and his army survived severe deprivation at Valley Forge. Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theater.

This season Michigan coach Lloyd Carr had a running game so poor it ranked ninth in the Big Ten, played musical chairs with quarterbacks Tom Brady and Drew Henson before finally settling on Brady as his starter and suffered back-to-back losses to Michigan State and Illinois that had critics calling for his job. Somehow, the No. 8 Wolverines overcame all that to win their last four games, squeezing past both Penn State and Ohio State to go 9-2, despite playing the second-toughest schedule in the nation.

Carr's troubles, though, were nothing compared to the tumultuous season Alabama coach Mike DuBose endured. Or, more correctly, brought on himself. Forced to admit he had lied about an extramarital affair with his secretary, Tide fans vilified DuBose and several members of the board of trustees called for his ouster. A 29-28 upset loss to Louisiana Tech in the third game of the season only made things worse.

DuBose was allowed to stay on, however, and Alabama turned its season around by beating Florida 40-39 in overtime. After the Tide beat the Gators again 21-7 in the Southeastern Conference championship game, DuBose was rewarded with a two-year contract extension. His team was the only one to play a more difficult schedule than Michigan. Certainly it would be hard to find two teams happier to be here this time of year than No. 8 Michigan and No. 5 Alabama. What that portends for Saturday night's clash remains to be seen.

Carr knows what he would like.

"I'd like to see us rush for 200 yards," said Carr, "throw for 200, hold Alabama to less than 100 yards rushing and I'd like to see them with three turnovers and us with none."

DuBose has a wish list as well.

"I would to see us establish the running game, control the time of possession the way we have been able to, secure the football, defensively slow their running game down and take the football away. If we do those things I think our chances of winning will be good."

The biggest unknown is how Alabama (10-2) will respond to the absence of starting left tackle Chris Samuels. Samuels sprained his right knee in the Mississippi game Nov. 13 and has yet to resume full workouts.

"We see this as an opportunity for somebody else to step forward and pick their teammate up," said DuBose. "We may look at him in the pregame warmup, but it would be very doubtful that he would play. Chris would like to play, but at this particular time he doesn't think he can. And I have to be honest. If he was my son I would advise him not to play."

The Tide also has had success rotating quarterbacks Andrew Zow and Tyler Watts. Both have been effective throwing to wide receiver Freddie Millons.

"Defensively, we have to stop their run and not give up the big play," said Carr.

Michigan will have an even bigger problem on the other side of the ball unless it can get its own running game untracked. Behind Brady, the Wolverines set a school record by averaging 255.3 passing yards per game. But against an Alabama run defense that allowed only 75.3 yards per contest--second best in the nation--Michigan will have to do more than just hand the ball to Anthony Thomas. Thomas ran for 1,257 yards this season, 1,168 yards more than the guy in second place, David Terrell with 89.

"We have to be able to establish some kind of running game," said Carr.

Carr ordered his players to their rooms by 10:30 p.m. New Year's Eve. After watching the movie "Any Given Sunday" as a group, DuBose said he would allow his team to stay up until midnight to see in the new millennium.

DuBose and Carr both took time Friday to praise their players for their loyalty and dedication in the face of many ups and downs.

"The most critical thing was the way we handled the loss to Virginia Tech," said DuBose. "Through adversity you're either going to split or come closer together. We came together. I think the way we handled that game was a blessing in disguise."

For Michigan, the turning point was Oct. 23 when Illinois rallied from a 20-7 halftime deficit to win 35-29.

"That was even more of a wakeup call than Michigan State was," said sophomore cornerback Todd Howard. "The Illinois game said we may be as good as we think we are but have to start playing up to expectations. Since then we have."